The couple laughing in a bank advert. The friends around a table in a supermarket campaign. The swimwear shot on a travel homepage. None of it looks like modelling from outside, all of it is booked through agencies, and between them they represent a very large share of the work that actually pays.
Lifestyle casts differently to fashion
Fashion casting selects for a particular kind of striking. Lifestyle selects for believable. A client casting a family scene, a workplace scene or a group of friends is buying the impression that these are people rather than models, which changes what a booker is looking for entirely.
What that means in practice:
- Range of age and appearance is the brief, not a concession to it. A supermarket campaign cast entirely from one demographic does not read as Britain and does not sell.
- Warmth reads more than bone structure. The models who book lifestyle repeatedly are the ones who can produce a genuine expression on cue, repeatedly, for hours, without it curdling into a stock-photo grin.
- Groups have to work together. Casting four individuals who are each perfect and look nothing like a real family is a common and expensive mistake. Good agencies cast the group, not the people.
- Movement matters. A lot of lifestyle work is now moving image as well as stills, often captured on the same day, and being able to walk, talk and hold a conversation naturally on camera is a distinct skill.
Swimwear is a specific brief and needs a specific conversation
Swimwear and lingerie work is well paid and entirely routine, and it also needs more care at brief stage than almost anything else.
The essentials, from a booking desk: the brief needs to state plainly what the model will be wearing and how much of the body will be visible, before anybody is optioned. Models are entitled to know that in advance and to decline. A model who arrives expecting one thing and is asked for another on the day is a booking that has gone wrong, and the agency that let it happen carries the blame.
Practical things that get overlooked and cause real problems on the day:
- Location and season. A swimwear shoot on a UK beach in March is a serious ask. If it is happening, the brief needs to say so, and there needs to be somewhere warm on site.
- Who is on set. A closed set for swimwear and lingerie work is standard practice, not a special request.
- Fittings. Swimwear sizing is unforgiving and sample fit decides more castings here than in almost any other category.
- Usage, in detail. Swimwear imagery gets reused hard — website, paid social, in-store, affiliate. Each is a separate right.
Casting across the UK, not just London
A great deal of lifestyle work is shot outside London. Retail, travel, home and food brands shoot on location, in real houses, in real high streets, all over the country. A London-only board is a poor fit for that, and travel costs stack up quickly across a group booking.
The Diversity Agency works across London, Surrey, Hertfordshire, Essex, Kent, Manchester, the North East and the wider UK. For a client that means asking a booker for options both ways — models travelling out from London, and models already near the location — and comparing the total cost rather than the day rate alone. On a five-model lifestyle shoot in Manchester, that difference is not marginal.
Retouching and how bodies are represented
Swimwear is the category where retouching expectations most need stating in advance. Brands vary enormously — some retouch heavily, some have public commitments not to alter body shape at all, and some sit in between without ever having written it down.
It is a reasonable thing for a model to ask about before accepting, and a reasonable thing for a client to have decided before shooting. It is also increasingly a commercial question rather than an ethical one: audiences are quick to spot alteration, and campaigns get judged on it.
What clients should send
The four things that get a quote back the same day are always the same: dates, usage, location and budget. For lifestyle and swimwear specifically, add the wardrobe brief and whether there is moving image as well as stills, because both change who gets put forward.
A brief that says "swimwear campaign, three models, summer" cannot be quoted. The same brief with dates, a location, a usage window and a budget can be answered within the hour.
Groups, and why they are booked differently
A lifestyle brief for a family, a couple or a group of friends is not four separate bookings that happen to share a date. The casting has to work as a unit — plausible ages, plausible relationships, people who look like they belong in the same room.
It also has practical consequences a client should budget for. Group calls run longer because there are more people to get through hair and make-up. Child performance licensing applies where under-16s are involved and is the production's responsibility to arrange. And releasing one model from a group option often means recasting more than one, because the group was balanced around them.
What models should expect
Lifestyle days are long and involve a lot of repetition — the same walk down the same aisle, thirty times, while a director adjusts something. The models who get rebooked are the ones who stay warm at take twenty-five.
For swimwear, expect to be told what you are wearing before you are optioned, expect a closed set, and expect to be able to say no to a brief without it counting against you. Any agency that treats a declined swimwear brief as a black mark is not doing its job.
Booking through FACES
FACES is the boutique board of The Diversity Agency, a London modelling agency running since 2016. The board covers fashion, editorial, beauty, runway, swimwear, lifestyle and commercial advertising — stills and moving image.
We are a genuinely diverse board and have been since long before it became a standard line in briefs. Send the dates and the budget for availability and a quote, usually the same day. New faces start at get scouted.
Frequently asked questions
What is a lifestyle model?
A model cast to look like a real person rather than a fashion model — the people in bank adverts, supermarket campaigns, travel and home brand imagery. Casting selects for believability, warmth and the ability to hold a genuine expression through long, repetitive days, and it deliberately spans a wide range of ages and appearances.
Should a swimwear brief say what the model will be wearing?
Yes, before anybody is optioned. Models are entitled to know exactly what a brief involves and how much of the body will be visible, and to decline it. Discovering it on the shoot day is a failure by the agency, not by the model.
Is a closed set standard for swimwear and lingerie shoots?
Yes. Limiting the set to the people who need to be there is normal practice for this work rather than a special accommodation, and it should not need to be requested.
Can I book models for a shoot outside London?
Yes. Work is booked across London, Surrey, Hertfordshire, Essex, Kent, Manchester, the North East and the wider UK. On multi-model shoots outside London it is worth asking for options both ways — models travelling out, and models already near the location — and comparing total cost rather than day rate.
Do lifestyle bookings include video as well as photography?
Increasingly yes, often captured on the same day. It changes who is put forward, because being natural in movement and dialogue is a different skill from stills, so it should be stated in the brief.